KARACHI: The Karachi Press Club (KPC) has condemned Israeli air and ground attacks on the innocent and unarmed people and media houses in Palestine.

In a statement issued here on Sunday, President Fazil Jamili and Secretary Rizwan Bhatti of the KPC criticised the Zionist regime of Israel for carrying out airstrikes on a building which housed the offices of Al-Jazeera news channel and the American news agency Associated Press in Gaza during the unilaterally declared war against Palestine.

They deplored the killings of innocent people, including women, children, infants, old and youths, by the Zionist forces.

The airstrikes, they said, not only pulled down the building housing media offices but also exposed Israel’s claim about media freedom.

They said the Zionist regime did not show even slightest respect for media men covering the war. The fresh Israeli offence has threatened the journalists who are doing their duty in the war-hit zones.

The KPC has appealed to the United Nations to make efforts to de-escalate the war that the Zionist regime had waged against the hapless people of Palestine.

It said the UN had so far turned a blind eye to the atrocities of the Zionist regime against Palestinians and continued human rights violations.

The KPC asked the UN to come up with a comprehensive and durable plan to end the Zionist rule over the state of Palestine and enforce its declarations.

It urged the UN to protect the journalists based in Palestine as well as Israel.

The KPC said the UN silence was undermining the whole concept of the world body’s charter for upholding peace and stability and respecting human rights and press freedom.

It expressed the hope that the UN would play a role not only in de-escalating the war but also take steps to end the Jewish occupation of Palestine once and for all.

The KPC said the world, which was already fighting the Covid-19 pandemic and growing climate chaos, could not afford to see the spread of war in the Middle East and elsewhere as a result of the Israeli aggression.

It extended complete support to the entire journalist fraternity of Palestine, particularly the members of Al-Jazeera and the Associated Press, who were facing threats to their lives from the Jewish regime while covering the war. It also expressed solidarity with the people of Palestine.

Published in Dawn, May 17th, 2021